Welcome to our new website!
April 24, 2024

Women Hunters and the First Female Indigenous Doctor with Tabitha Bear from Herstory Podcast

Women Hunters and the First Female Indigenous Doctor with Tabitha Bear from Herstory Podcast

In this episode of 'Dine with the Divine', host Ashley and guest Tabitha Bear, a Lenape photographer and writer, engage in an extensive dialogue covering the remarkable life of Susan LaFlesche, the first Western-trained Indigenous American doctor. They discuss Susan's early realization of her purpose amid racial indifference, her educational journey amidst financial and societal obstacles, and her tireless work as a physician, advocate, and community leader for the Omaha people. The episode also touches on women's historical roles in hunting and gathering societies, challenges faced by women in becoming educated and professional in the past, and the contemporary representation of women's history. Furthermore, the diverse topics include personal anecdotes, the impact of folklore and cultural history, and the significance of oral traditions. The dialogue concludes with a call to action for listeners to appreciate and learn from the stories of empowering women like Susan LaFlesche.

00:00 Welcome to Dine with the Divine: Exploring Mystical Stories

00:28 Meet Tabitha Bear: A Lenape Traveling Photographer

01:14 Tabitha's Journey into Travel Photography

02:17 Tabitha's Favorite Travel Destinations: Iceland and Japan

04:04 Discussing the Importance of Oral Histories and Indigenous Cultures

07:34 Tabitha's Podcast: Celebrating Women's Stories

12:30 Dish of the Week: Recipes Inspired by Historical Women

25:01 The Importance of Ratings and Reviews for Podcasts

25:58 Tea Time: Debunking the Hunter-Gatherer Gender Myth

29:33 The Story of Susan LaFlesche: A Trailblazing Indigenous Woman

33:08 The Inspiring Journey of Susan: From Tragedy to Determination

34:43 Breaking Barriers: Susan's Quest to Become a Doctor

37:10 College Challenges and Personal Triumphs

38:17 Susan's Love Life and Academic Achievements

45:46 Returning Home: Susan's Impact as a Doctor

48:44 Expanding Roles: Susan as a Community Pillar

52:09 Facing Personal Trials and a Return to Medicine

58:08 Legacy and Impact: Susan's Final Years and Beyond

Indigenous multimedia specialist introducing people to the world one story at a time.

@Worldherstory on Instagram

Tabitha's Website


If you enjoyed the show, please give us a 5 star on whatever podcast platform you listen to us on!

Support Dine with the Divine

Follow the podcast on Instagram

Follow on Facebook at Dine with the Divine

Follow me (Ashley!) at Sankofa Healing Sanctuary on Facebook and Instagram

Email me with your questions and comments at dinewiththedivinepod@gmail.com

Dine with the Divine website

Copyright 2024 Ashley Oppon

Transcript

Tabitha


===



[00:00:00] Ashley: Hi everybody and welcome to Dine with the Divine. I'm your host, Ashley, and together we'll be exploring the magical, the mystical, and everything in between. On today's episode, we're going to talk about women hunters and an indigenous woman who is dedicated to helping her people. So I hope everybody had an absolutely fantastic week, and if not, I hope it gets better really soon.



[00:00:25] Today we have a fantastic guest as usual. Today we have Tabitha Bear. So Tabitha Bear is a Lenape traveling photographer and writer. She helps people meet the world one story at a time and inspires them to write their own adventure. Her blog focuses on folklore, road trips, and photography. She is also the co founder of Kitakana Adventures, a company dedicated to providing unique travel experiences through group trips.



[00:00:53] So she also has a podcast and after creating the podcast world, her story is another platform. She is excited to share [00:01:00] to utilize and share the true stories of incredible women around the world.



[00:01:05] Tabitha, how are you doing today?



[00:01:07] Tabitha: I'm so good. Thank you so much for having me.



[00:01:11] Ashley: Yay. I'm so glad you're here. So the first question I wanted to ask, because I think this is so, so interesting is how did you get into the world of travel photography?



[00:01:26] Tabitha: Yeah, so, I , I've always had like a bit of a nomadic spirit.



[00:01:30] Ever since I was very young, I just knew that I was restless. And I always had a camera in hand. My first digital camera was actually like this big clunky thing that took three and a quarter inch floppies and you could only put six pictures on it at a time. Like it was horrendous. That was my first digital camera, but It just kept getting more and more.



[00:01:57] And then as I got older and I got my first passport and I started [00:02:00] traveling, I was like, I think I could do this. Like,



[00:02:03] Ashley: yeah, I



[00:02:04] Tabitha: just started to do my best to make my own way, photography aspects. So I was trying to grow as I grew.



[00:02:14] Ashley: Okay. Awesome. . Okay. Awesome. So, what are some of your favorite places you've visited?



[00:02:21] I know that I was looking at your website and your blog and you really love Iceland.



[00:02:27] Tabitha: Yes. I've been to Iceland probably about eight times now. It's very expensive to go to, but I love it so much. I love the folklore. I love the landscape. It's just, and it's always a good time to go. Everybody's like, Oh, like there are special times to go at any time is a good time to go because the, the daylight is impacted by the time of year.



[00:02:55] The Northern lights are impacted by the time of year. The midnight sun is impacted by the time [00:03:00] of year. And the landscape is impacted by the time of year. So no matter what time of year you go, it's fantastic. So I try to go a different time of year every time I go. And Japan is another one for me.



[00:03:10] That is just



[00:03:12] Ashley: like,



[00:03:12] Tabitha: I, It's so weird, like being in the United States. And you'll probably understand this as an American is like, especially on the East coast, you have something where it's like, Oh, this has been around for 250 years and you're like, Oh, wow, that's amazing. And then you go to Japan and then like.



[00:03:30] This temple has been around for 2, 500 years and you're like, well, holy shit. Like, it's just like, it's so involved and so interesting to see, like, when you travel those things that you're exposed to. So Japan really was a, an amazing culture shock for me in terms of history.



[00:03:52] Ashley: Just



[00:03:52] Tabitha: going there really opened my eyes to a lot of things.



[00:03:55] Especially the way that I look at. our history in America versus the history [00:04:00] of the world.



[00:04:00] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel like that? Especially is because what in my experience, at least when I see things like that, I, it almost makes me like, I'm like, one thing that actually makes me sad.



[00:04:21] What I see when I go to other countries and see that it's like, how come we Don't get to learn more about like before colonization so much like we don't get to learn as much about because there was so much People here and there were things happening and yeah, and because of Europe's emphasis on records and emphasis on like structures and actually, I was, I saw this on threads like earlier today, somebody was talking about how people are discounted sometimes like different it.



[00:04:54] Groups now I'm talking about indigenous groups around the world can be discounted because their history is [00:05:00] mainly oral, because when other people are like I want to study this group, great. Okay, cool. You can say it, but they're like, well, I don't have a good source because their history is oral.



[00:05:09] It doesn't mean that they're. History is invalid, but I think we put so much emphasis on books and was it written down? Was it recorded? And in Europe, you have all these not, and I know we're talking about Japan, but like in a lot of different places around the world. And you got to say also, it matters where you were around the world and how things were built.



[00:05:27] There's places where things were built with mud and sand, because that's what they got. Like they didn't have yeah, they were wood and that's why their palaces aren't there anymore because it was built with wood because that's what they had. It's not like they didn't care. It's just, they didn't have metal.



[00:05:40] So, or, maybe a process of making metal that made sense to make a house. So, I think sometimes I'm like, man, I feel like we discount so many cultures by just being like, well, they don't have a record of it. So, like, Oh, who cares?



[00:05:56] Tabitha: Absolutely. Yeah,



[00:05:58] Ashley: absolutely.



[00:05:59] Tabitha: It's so [00:06:00] messed up. Yeah, it is messed up. And I think That comes to, one of the points of who said that the recorded history is what has to be the thing.



[00:06:10] And Ten Buck says it was a old white dude. So, it's one of those things where like you have to, as a culture, we all have to sift through that shit and you go like, okay, so I understand that this culture is based on oral storytelling and they have someone specific in their tribe or their indigenous region who is the storyteller, the story holder the person who holds the history that's handed down.



[00:06:40] And maybe that's your source. And looking at each culture specifically, instead of going, well, it's not written down. So it's one of those things where like, I think we're starting to get to that point. Especially with like a lot of land back initiatives and stuff like that. You're starting to see that decolonization pop up and people are starting to [00:07:00] become more aware and they're trying.



[00:07:03] Yeah. Yeah. Like, there is effort, and when that effort happens in terms of history, like, it would unlock, like, amazing, golden stories and folklore and histories of these amazing indigenous people from around the world who've done so many fantastical things and You just don't know about it.



[00:07:22] Ashley: Yeah, I know. Oh, this ties in very well to the later on in our episode. I'm very excited.



[00:07:32] I love that. Okay. So you also have a podcast called world, her story and yeah. What inspired you to start that podcast?



[00:07:42] Tabitha: Yeah. So I am a, a. Curator and collector of fun facts. And I just have a tendency to go like, did you know that in 2003, this happened here? Or like, did you know that this is where such and such [00:08:00] created the electronical current of like, I just know these random fun facts. Yeah. It didn't help my SATs, but it helped me in real life somehow. Yeah. But like, that's how it started.



[00:08:12] Like I love collecting little histories about things and places and Another passion of mine is women and feminism and stuff like that. And it started with I feel I am indigenous to Pennsylvania as a Lenape woman. And since my father passed away, I feel very disconnected from my land. And I'm trying to get that spark again.



[00:08:37] So I started to just dive into women from Pennsylvania and I was just like, let's get inspired by people who were born here, people who hailed from here or people who moved here and made Pennsylvania their home. Like, let's try and figure out something of that history. And I just started. Going through the history of women on Wikipedia and I was [00:09:00] just like, wow, there are some really badass babes out there.



[00:09:04] And, like women who took up cannons when their husbands fell in front of them at the Revolutionary War. They were born enslaved, but became a travel writer. And spread the word of the Lord, like throughout their lives, like just all these amazing stories. And I'm like, and nobody's ever heard of these, I've never heard of these women.



[00:09:25] I've never heard of, like, you always hear about like the men in the wigs and whatever the hell else that built the foundation of this country 200 years ago and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, but what about the women that helped support that? What about the women who went against that? Like. Just all these amazing things.



[00:09:45] And the podcast just started to write itself,



[00:09:50] In terms of like. I don't just share about the women. I share about the history of that time. Women's roles, what's going on? Like, [00:10:00] the reason why it's so pertinent for this woman to have existed in this is the thing that she did. It's because she had the audacity to do something against the current.



[00:10:10] Yeah. So that's what my podcast does. And it just tries to, I try to make it, I have a tendency to like, just go on and on. I edit myself a lot to make it at least concise and understandable because. I just want to be like, Oh my God, there's all this history. Let me give you 300 years of history before we talk about the woman so you can understand her.



[00:10:40] And I have to stop myself from doing that. So I try to keep it to like a half hour. This is what was going on when she was born. Born. This is what she was brought up in. This is the history that surrounds her. And then this is inevitably what she ended up doing. And like, this is how she was assassinated or whatever happens.



[00:10:57] But yeah that's how the [00:11:00] podcast grew was just me being curious, me feeling disconnected and Yeah, it like this positive thing came out of something that was pretty sad and negative. So I'm very happy to see that come to fruition. I love that. I



[00:11:16] Ashley: love how you Yeah, I really love how you Yeah, you took something of being like, huh?



[00:11:22] How can I learn more about what's going on around me? How can I connect to my land better? And you really, you Made into something creative then you can share it now share with everybody, which is really cool and girl I go down that same rabbit hole. I do research for anything and then it's okay I'm researching this one, especially if it's a person there's one person now I need to know all about the country they're from I need to know about all the People they're from, I need to know about their tribe or indigenous group.



[00:11:47] I need to know everything about what time it was, what was happening to the group. It's like, and I'm like, I can't tell this story like this. Everyone's going to be like, this podcast is way too long. I don't want to listen to it anymore.[00:12:00]



[00:12:00] This girl's going on like seven tangents. Oh yeah. So I feel you so hard. Oh, so struggles of podcasters. So, okay. So now we know all about that and we're going to talk more about women in a couple of minutes, but now we're going to go, this is also our whole podcast today is about women because we're with Tabitha and she has a podcast about women. So that's what we're talking about. I love it. Exactly.



[00:12:29] So. Our dish of the week this week is, these are delicious recipes inspired by, this is the name of the article. It's delicious recipes inspired by some of history's most badass women. I don't agree that all these women are badass and you'll see why because I have a gripe. With one of them. Yeah, you'll see.



[00:12:48] I'm so excited. I know. So some of these dishes are like these women's favorite dishes or like what they eat all the time. So the first dish is roast beef [00:13:00] and honey glazed brussel sprouts. I like brussel sprouts. That sounds pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, so this was a favorite meal of Katherine Switzer, who made history for becoming the first woman in 1967 to win the Boston Marathon, to ever, sorry, not win, to ever enter and run in the Boston Marathon.



[00:13:18] So I'm like, damn, yeah, 1967. What was everybody else doing? They weren't allowed to run in it before that? That's crazy. Yeah,



[00:13:26] Tabitha: I think there's a picture of her, if I'm recalling the right person, there's a picture of her where men were trying to tear the number off of her. I think I know that picture. While she's



[00:13:34] Ashley: running.



[00:13:35] You know what picture I'm talking about? Yes, I know that picture. Okay, that, yeah, I think that's her then. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's messed up. Okay. You guys, please don't do that to people. It's really mean. Yeah. All right. Then we got butter and sugar pull apart bread, which is inspired by Marie Curie, who also comes up later in this episode.



[00:13:54] So this is all coming together. I love it. So apparently Marie Curie was Out here, [00:14:00] she was out here just doing the most and she was finding out stuff about radioactivity and changing the whole world. She's doing a great job. She's a physicist if anybody doesn't know who Marie Curie is.



[00:14:10] She's oh, and I didn't know this. I don't know. I'm not science girl. I'm a nurse, but I'm still not a science girly. But I didn't know she won the Nobel peace prize twice. I was like, good for her. Yeah. Wow. I didn't know. I knew she created radioactive stuff, but I didn't know that she won twice.



[00:14:25] I'm like, so apparently she was, she like was working hard, right? To change the world. She was like, I got to handle this because I'm a badass bitch.



[00:14:33] And so then she was out here, she didn't have time to get real food. So sometimes she would just eat in her room, living on butter and bread and tea. So she would just sit in her room, eating this all the time. Cause she's I don't have time for a full meal. I have to change the world and cancer treatments and radioactive stuff.



[00:14:49] So. Good job, Marie Curie. So this there's an, all of these all the recipes will be in this article on the, in the show notes. So you guys can check it out. That sounds pretty good. Butter and sugar pull apart [00:15:00] breads is something she liked to eat. All right, the next one. All right, everybody. This is my gripe.



[00:15:06] It's coconut cake inspired by Emily Dickinson. Now here's my problem with Emily Dickinson. I don't like her. And people like Emily Dickinson, because she was a poet and she like, I remember being in school and having to read she's a classical poet, we had to read Emily Dickinson. I hated reading Emily Dickinson, because I get it that she had like, Probably clinical depression that wasn't diagnosed.



[00:15:33] That's not her fault, but it's like Emily Dickinson I can't hear you talk about looking out the window anymore. I can't hear you talking about just sitting around like I just



[00:15:45] I remember literally our teacher like we were reading a poem and our teacher asking us like what we I was like 16 I literally just used my hand. I was like, I can't stand Emily Dickinson. I was like, oh, she doesn't complain. I [00:16:00] feel bad. Cause I understand that she has like a mental illness.



[00:16:03] That's not her fault, but I don't want to read about it. I'm so sorry, Emily. I wish you could have gotten the help you needed. But I can't take it. It just seems to make me so depressed. Oh, Well, I



[00:16:16] Tabitha: think, sometimes they, like, still in school to these days, like, they put stuff on you as a teenager and you're already, like, hormonal and going through puberty and angsty as fuck.



[00:16:28] And like, then they're like, here, read this very depressing thing from 300 years ago. And you're like, I don't want to. I want to know if Jared likes me. Exactly! Just don't! You don't care. And then like, I try to revisit stuff when I'm older and I'm like I don't get it. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.



[00:16:54] But I don't get it. I don't



[00:16:55] Ashley: understand!



[00:16:57] Tabitha: I



[00:16:58] Ashley: mean, I would [00:17:00] be I remember just being I did feel that way, cause I didn't I love reading my whole life. Like I, I really, there was a lot of books we read in school that I really enjoyed, but whenever we had to read about Emily Dickinson's or Charles Dickens, I'm just like, this is sad.



[00:17:14] Everybody in Victorian times was depressed. Everybody was dirty and everyone was hungry. And I'm so sorry about that, but I just can't read about it anymore. I was like, we need to move forward.



[00:17:25] Tabitha: I know exactly what you mean. Yeah, it's, I. It wasn't until I was maybe like in my mid twenties that when I started to read about like, Dickensian era stuff, I was like, I just thought everybody was covered in dirt.



[00:17:41] Like I totally get that because you read all these really awful stories and they're supposed to be like these. These gargantuan leaps forward in literature and stuff like that. Yes. I just feel like I need to wash my hands. And just go like, you know what? I have clean water now. [00:18:00] It's amazing.



[00:18:01] Like I have a running toilet. Yeah. Yeah, I get that. I have hot and cold water. Yes. Like I'm privileged to have that. Like, it's just, I understand completely what you mean. I understand completely where you're coming from. I do. Yeah, I get that. I'm like,



[00:18:21] Ashley: Emily, girl, you have,



[00:18:22] it's like when you know somebody who, like, pulls out their guitar. Randomly at a party and they're like, Oh, just let him play. Like, this is what he does. And you're like, Oh, Jesus Christ. And it's always like, sorry, cisgendered white men, but it's always you guys who do it. Like, it's always you guys.



[00:18:41] And everybody's like, for some reason, the rest of us just let you do it. Cause we're all just like, Oh yeah. He's, he just broke up with somebody. We got to let him. I'm like, do we have to let him? Can he process this later? Somewhere else. This is crazy. Now we're all subjective. Well, we just came [00:19:00] over to chill and have a drink or two and eat some snacks.



[00:19:02] Now we all gotta listen to this guy play a guitar who's not very good and they're never that good. And you're like, oh my God, I'm not coming back to, and it's



[00:19:10] Tabitha: always like a nasal whiny sound.



[00:19:12] Ashley: Yes.



[00:19:13] Tabitha: Like



[00:19:13] Ashley: Yes, he's playing, like, Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse, and you're like, bro?



[00:19:20] We should have left this song wherever it came from in the early 2000s because nobody's trying to listen to Hanging by a Moment anymore. Please. We're over it. We're not listening to Nickelback. We're not listening to that anymore. We found better artists, okay? Please, I'm begging you. Oh my lord.



[00:19:42] If you're at one of these parties, you don't have to let that guy play. You can gently be like, Hey, do you want to talk? Like we can talk. You don't have to play the guitar, take him to the side. We can chit chat with him, but this is unnecessary. It really is. All sorry. Anybody who's cisgendered white man and plays a guitar.



[00:19:58] They need to be rude to you. I'm just [00:20:00] telling the truth. We tell truth in this podcast. Okay, back to the subject at hand. So the next food we have is a flourless walnut fig cake, which is inspired by Cleopatra, because apparently Cleopatra used to really like having parties and she would really Love to give people cakes made from figs and nuts and it's covered in honey.



[00:20:28] So we probably don't know the actual recipe, but someone made a cute recipe for it because it was a million. It was so long ago. Also hot take from me here, Cleopatra overrated female historical figure. There's lots, I can't wait for us to talk about the person I'm going to talk about because honestly, like Cleopatra is fine.



[00:20:47] But this person was out here doing everything. So I'm just saying I just, how many movies do we have to have about Cleopatra? Enough. Like, we're talking about people on this podcast who did way more than [00:21:00] her and everyone's still talking about her. We're still making movies. Like, enough. Like, we know.



[00:21:04] Okay, she was sleeping with this one, she was sleeping with that one. That's not a problem. We don't slut shame. I don't care who she was sleeping with. But honestly, I'm tired of hearing about it. It's over. It's totally fine. Like, but I just don't want to hear about it anymore. Enough. All right. Sorry. I'm being such a jerk.



[00:21:22] I'm not. Oh, here we go. Another depressed writer. I'm so sorry. But this is a slow cooked red wine beef stew inspired by Virginia Woolf. Oh, okay. Virginia Woolf. I'm so sorry for her. I know she had it rough also. But she's another person. I don't want to read her books because they're sad.



[00:21:42] And sometimes I don't want to just read a sad book. But she really liked red wine beef stew. So now you know that about Virginia Woolf. The song, It does. It does sound good. There's a song that I really love by Florence and the Machine called Never Let Me Go [00:22:00] and that is inspired by Virginia Woolf.



[00:22:02] Yes. Oh my gosh.



[00:22:03] Tabitha: I love that song.



[00:22:04] Ashley: I love that song. Oh my god. I like, if we had the rights to it, I'd make it the theme song to this podcast. I love that song. It's so good. Okay. Let's see who else we got here. Oh, we got a Amelia Earhart who apparently really just liked like a simple tomato. That's fine.



[00:22:24] That's good. That's like her favorite thing to eat. I guess you got to be light on your feet when you're trying to fly all over the world. So, okay, that's cool. Good food for you, Amelia Earhart. Peanut butter pancakes. This is one for Rosa Parks, inspired by Rosa Parks, because, so, here's the thing, I listened to a really good podcast, I wish I have to try to find it, about Rosa Parks, she didn't just like, do that one thing on the bus, she was an activist her whole life.



[00:22:56] Like, yeah, she was an activist from the [00:23:00] beginning. Like she started doing civil rights activism. So, this is basically, she worked for, I don't remember which organization. I'm not going to say one that I think it is because I don't know if I'm wrong, but she, when she was working, when she, her and her husband, they lost their jobs early when they were doing their activism.



[00:23:19] So they moved to Detroit and they had like, they were struggling financially, but they knew that peanut butter was cheap and they could make like, pancakes with it. So she figured out how to do that to sustain her family. Plus that's a lot of protein on a tight budget. So that's pretty cool. That's interesting.



[00:23:34] Yeah. Isn't it? I was like, Ooh, that's nice. And then we have Smothered Chicken Wings inspired by Mary McLeod Bethune. So she was, I've never heard of this lady, but she sounds pretty cool. She was a daughter of former slaves and she became an educator and a civil rights activist in South Carolina. And she opened a private school.



[00:23:55] school for African American students in Daytona, Florida. Awesome. [00:24:00] Yeah. And then she founded the national council of Negro women. Okay. Yeah. And she really likes smothered chicken wings. That actually looks delicious. It sounds delicious. Yes. And then we have ham and cheese stuffed eggs, which I was like, eh, but it might actually taste good.



[00:24:18] It's one of those things that sounds funny, but you're like, maybe it tastes good. And that is inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Okay, I guess she really li she said it's pretty plain, but it's cost effective, and during the depression, she wasn't trying to send, use all this money to eat. Good, good on her!



[00:24:35] She's like, everybody's suffering, so, I'm not gonna be out here eating. My waitin fancy meats. Good for her. Thank you, Eleanor. And then we got the last one, Watergate salad, inspired by Helen Keller. Who apparently really liked this salad one time when she went to California. Cool. Awesome. All right, so that's our dish of [00:25:00] the week, dishes.



[00:25:01] USB PnP Audio Device-1: Hi everybody. And thank you for listening to this show. So. I know, you're wondering what's the big deal about ratings and reviews and why is this woman always talking about them? Here's the thing, when you rate or review any podcasts that you like, it gets more people to listen to it, it gets more recognized.



[00:25:19] It puts it out there. So I am here humbly asking you to please rate and or review the podcast. If you listen to us on apple podcasts, Spotify, literally anything. Just, it takes five seconds.



[00:25:34] USB PnP Audio Device-2: Even if you want to go on my website, which is in the show notes and the link in my bio on any social media page, you will find a page where you can write a review on the website too. So it's completely up to you how you want to review. It's really easy.



[00:25:50] USB PnP Audio Device-1: It does a lot for the podcast and we really, really appreciate it. Okay, thank you. And continue to enjoy the show. .



[00:25:58] Ashley: So now we're going to [00:26:00] go into our little tea time section, which is short because our story is long. So So we're not gonna make you guys stay here too long, but this isn't this is an interesting article from NPR about how most of time, most of like time, in generation, most of the time, we assume that men were the hunters and women were gatherers.



[00:26:29] But there was a bunch of evidence Collected by a bunch of really cool scientists and anthropologists and sociologists, that this was not true. So, the first, now let's talk about the problems with it. The first problem is, obviously, we're talking about hunter gathering societies. This was like 200, 000 years ago.



[00:26:49] So, it's hard to know what was going on back then. But that's when Homo sapiens first emerged, so that's what we're trying to figure out what people were doing back then. But, they have evidence [00:27:00] that there's they what they studied 63 different indigenous peoples around the world today, who are still living similarly to how they've been living for generations, and they found in the majority of these societies that men and women both hunted and both gathered.



[00:27:19] Yeah. It was really interesting. So they actually said that in this, okay, in the groups that they studied now, 79 percent of those societies were women were also hunting. They did find though that women hunted differently than men. So what the women would do is they would be out, gathering, but also they would kill smaller animals or they would set up traps.



[00:27:47] Or they would kill animals out of like opportunity. So they just saw one there. So they kill it. Okay. Or yeah, or catch it instead of like purposely going out to catch big game. But this is important because it's not [00:28:00] like you couldn't eat that, and we've had they were saying that this research can be really important because, oh, number one, also they show that in a lot of these places, Part of a girl growing up was her making her own tools.



[00:28:13] So that women were actually learning all these things. And it also is important to the research where so many societies try to imply, toxic masculinity tries to imply, that women are the weaker sex. That women, can't do this. Oh, we have to go back to how it was. We have to be hunters and da la.



[00:28:34] No, shut up. That's wrong. That is incorrect, according to the research. They do say like, oh, well, it can't be 100 percent right. We don't know exactly what people were doing back then. Of course we don't, but they're just making the point that in general. Women were also hunters. Oh, and they also found many graves where there was women buried with their own hunting tools.



[00:28:58] And each grave had people buried with [00:29:00] their hunting tools. So if they're a woman, they were obviously buried with theirs. So it was pretty interesting. I thought I would just bring that up. Interesting. I like that. Yeah. It's, I like that. The article obviously will be in the show notes so everybody can read it, but.



[00:29:13] I just want to make sure we get everything here. Yeah, so that's our short tea time. I loved it. Yeah it's good. So now we're going to tell our story. It's going to take me a minute to tell the story. Okay, yeah, good. It's fun. Okay, so. What's fun, and it's also intense, there's a lot going on.



[00:29:33] Our story today is about Susan LaFlesche. Peacock have you ever heard of this woman Tabitha?



[00:29:41] Tabitha: No,



[00:29:42] Ashley: No problem. All right. I had never heard of her either until I found her in this book Oh this but I got this, from the book tough mothers It's one of jason porath's books. Jason porath is this author and we've used his book a couple times on the podcast he's yeah, he [00:30:00] talks about different women the books Well, he had a blog.



[00:30:04] I'm just gonna talk about this guy for a second. He had a blog that I used to follow like 10 years ago. It was called Rejected Princesses. So he put people in, like he would make these beautiful, he's all an illustrator and animator or something. He would make illustrations of people who he would refer to as people Disney would never make a story about because like their story was too badass.



[00:30:26] And there's a lot of really cool people that he writes stories about. A couple that we've spoken about on this podcast. Okay. So Susan is 1 of them. So Susan LaFleur Picot, was born June. 1865 on the Omaha reservation in Eastern Nebraska. Now, this is some important points. So you're going to wonder why I'm talking so much about our parents, but it comes into play.



[00:30:50] So Susan had both of her parents were half white and half native. So her mother, Mary Gail was Omaha and she actually [00:31:00] refused to speak anything other than Omaha. She refused to speak English. She spoke English, but she didn't want to speak English. Cause like, why English is not that exciting. Yeah, she was like, no, that's not for me.



[00:31:11] Ashley: Good for you, Mary. Her dad, his name was Joseph LaFlesche, but he was also known as Iron Eye. How I will refer to him because Iron Eye is much cooler. He was half French Canadian and half Ponca, which was another people who lived near the Omaha. But the chief of the Omaha at the time adopted him and then he became chief.



[00:31:31] So this is Susan's dad became chief around 1855. So Susan grew up on the Omaha reservation and she could speak English and Omaha. Obviously, cause her mom only spoke Omaha. She's not really, she wasn't like, she's never going to talk to her mom. So even though her dad was a chief, so, he knew all the important rituals and everything for their tribe.



[00:31:57] And. He's the chief so he knows what to do. He [00:32:00] also wanted what he thought was like a better future for his kids. So he was really insistent that they learn how to speak really good English. He did not give them native names. The Omaha have certain markings, tattoos that they give.



[00:32:16] He didn't give them any of them or let them get those because he saw that. At this point in history, it's the 1860s that the Omaha way of life was not going to be the only one. The Omaha way of life was just, he realized these kids need to assimilate. At least that's what he thought was best for them.



[00:32:38] So, Susan grew up on the reservation, she spoke both languages, and he made her speak English to people so she could know. How to speak English. Well now within the Omaha at this time. There were a few really big problems There was three big problems. One of them was alcoholism One of them was big [00:33:00] influenza bout outbreaks and another one was tuberculosis Outbreaks because I'm so sorry again.



[00:33:08] We talked about this earlier. I try not to go too crazy with my research But at this time, the Omaha people were not allowed to leave the reservation. They had to stay there all the time. So if somebody got sick, they had to call a doctor who was usually a white doctor. So one day when Susan, I believe she was pretty young.



[00:33:30] I'm not sure how old she was at the time. I think she was nine or 10. She had to sit with this woman who was really sickly. And. She had to wait hours for the doctor. So she just sat with the woman comforting her. The woman was really sick. She saw a messenger go back to this doctor four times.



[00:33:51] Go to the doctor, come back, go to the doctor, come back, go to, and every time the messenger would say, well, the doctor said he's coming. The [00:34:00] doctor never came and the lady died and this old woman who was in apparently what I read was this woman was in absolute agony and she died at this point. Susan said later.



[00:34:15] Well, actually later in in time, Susan said that quote, it was only an Indian and it didn't matter. So she's saying that the doctor didn't care. So was at that moment Susan decided. Oh, I guess I am gonna be Somebody who's not gonna let this happen for my people Susan we stand because you're out here and we love you.



[00:34:37] Okay, it gets better Susan decided okay. I'm gonna become a doctor Now, please realize how big of a deal this is, and you'll see, there was never, at this point, there had never been a Native [00:35:00] American doctor, ever, westernly trained, I should say, Native American doctor, at all, ever, in anywhere in the United States.



[00:35:10] This is not a thing yet, right? Okay. Everybody got it? Okay. I want to emphasize this is a big deal.



[00:35:17] So now, there's a couple of factors, right? She is indigenous and she wants to go to college, which was already a big deal. And she's a woman. And at that time, they're like, Oh, you're a woman, why would you go to school? You should stay home and have a baby. And actually, I read this, which I thought was interesting.



[00:35:34] In 1873, a Harvard medical doctor wrote that he believed that if women studied too hard, that they would become infertile.



[00:35:43] Tabitha: Get out of town.



[00:35:44] Ashley: Hear



[00:35:59] Tabitha: that [00:36:00] ladies? The best form of birth controls to study too hard.



[00:36:05] Ashley: I was like, What and people apparently he wrote this book and it was like published in like Seven languages or something like people really believed it The confidence alone, I'm just like damn like really to be Cisgendered white men just like, they just have confidence to just say stuff that makes sense.



[00:36:28] It's just, it's amazing. Woo!



[00:36:38] I'm like, what? Okay. So, yeah, this was a real belief. And other people would say stuff like, So basically, at this time, they were like, if you go to college as a woman, that's who you're going to be is like a college educated person, you cannot have a family, you cannot do anything else in your life, you just have to like dedicate yourself to being like a quote, unquote, spinster, [00:37:00] and at this point, everyone thinks you're going to be like miserable, right?



[00:37:03] That's like the thought process, unfortunately. Of course, because like, what else? So, okay. So she applied to college and yes, Susan got it. So she got into the Hampton Institute in 1884. And this was at the time, one of the only colleges that was taking Indigenous students.



[00:37:24] This was a historically Black Institute, but they took Indigenous students too. This is actually where Booker T. Washington went to school. Oh. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was like, Oh, okay. So Susan was super dedicated to her education. She would wake up every day at 515 in the morning, she went to like the old timey thrift store and got old clothes and she would sew them up and like fix them up and sell them smart.



[00:37:52] Loving that for you, Susan, entrepreneur.



[00:37:55] Tabitha: Yeah that's



[00:37:56] Ashley: it's like old time Etsy. Pretty much. Yeah. She's



[00:37:59] Tabitha: making [00:38:00] it work.



[00:38:00] Ashley: Yeah. She was like, I'm a vintage queen. I was like, yes, you are. I love that. So she would wake up at 5 15, do the sewing, go to school. And that's how she was paying for college.



[00:38:14] Yeah. So I was like, yes. So then she was there. And then, what happens sometimes when you go to college, You made a boy or girl depending on or whoever. She met a boy and his name was Thomas And he was a Sioux man and but she called him TI because his last name started with an I could not pronounce his last name was but his name is TI not the rapper.



[00:38:36] His name was Thomas He was not TI from Atlanta married to tiny not that TI we don't like him anyway, anyway, so Susan was like So they were like quote unquote dating, but like reports say that like Susan was very shy and Thomas was very shy. So they would just like sit places together and not speak to each other.[00:39:00]



[00:39:00] But everyone knew they were like an item, but they would just like sit together and not talk. And it was just like how they did. So, Susan, you're funny. She was shy. She didn't know what to do.



[00:39:13] Tabitha: Yeah. Sometimes I like to chill with people as well and not say anything, but I feel like eventually you have to get to know the person.



[00:39:23] If



[00:39:25] Ashley: something happens. Exactly. All Susan knew is she was in love with him and apparently he also was in love with her, but they didn't say that to each other. It's just, everyone else was like, Oh, those are those two, those are those two people who never speak. But apparently they like each other. I'm laughing at him.



[00:39:41] I know, I was like, Oh, Susan, you're so cute. But Susan was busy, right? She was at school. She had to wake up at 5. 15 every morning to sew and then go study. So, got through the Hampton Institute salutatorian. So she was second in her class. Awesome. Good



[00:39:57] Tabitha: job.



[00:39:58] Ashley: Yeah, I said, girl. [00:40:00] So now she's like, Oh, I got to go to medical school.



[00:40:04] And everyone's like, well, they're like, Oh, Susan, you're still going with that. And she said, absolutely. So thing about medical school is it's much more expensive than regular college at this time, even though college at this time was probably like 20.



[00:40:22] Tabitha: Yeah, my God.



[00:40:24] Ashley: A medical school was probably like 20.



[00:40:25] 100, which was like an unfathomable amount of money, but she had a sister, her sister, Suzette was really big on activism in the community and the Omaha community. And she knew people all over the country who were really into activism and helping with the indigenous communities and especially in the Omaha community.



[00:40:47] So she had a lot of connections. So Suzette was like telling everybody, they're like, yeah, my sister wants to be the first like indigenous doctor. And then everyone's like, wow, that's awesome. So she raised a whole bunch of [00:41:00] money for Susan to go to school. Oh, that's fantastic. I just realized, isn't that great?



[00:41:05] There's a woman, I forget her name, but there's a, I think it was Alice Fletcher, who was an ethnographer. So she went around to record different indigenous societies and like how everything worked there. She loved this idea that Susan would be the first, like, Western trained woman doctor. So she gave a lot of money to Susan.



[00:41:27] Oh, that's great. Isn't that awesome? I was like, good for her! So, everybody heard about it. She raised money. Now she got accepted to the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, which is the second medical school for women trained doctors. It in the world at that time, it was only the second school. And it was the first school was Boston college, medical college for women.



[00:41:51] I believe it was called, and that had opened in 1848 and this school had opened in 1850. So here goes Susan, she's there and she's like, Oh my [00:42:00] gosh, I'm so smart. Look at me. And everyone's like, but you're a girl. And she's like, yeah, I know. So the college was so small that they actually had to share surgery With other colleges, so Oh, wow.



[00:42:15] Okay. Yeah, it was like one small building. There was a picture of it online. The, so, because they had to share the room with other medical schools, there was other men there, the men would make fun of them, be like, oh, are you guys gonna faint? And apparently there was one guy who would like, really make fun of her.



[00:42:33] I was like, oh, you're gonna faint? You're gonna faint cause you're a girl? And guess who was the first person to faint the first time they had to do a surgery? That guy.



[00:42:40] Tabitha: I love it.



[00:42:44] Ashley: Yes. I could just see Susan turning around looking at him and rolling her eyes and be like, I need to pay attention because I'm about to be a doctor and like change history.



[00:42:53] So please shut up.



[00:42:58] Tabitha: Oh my God. I [00:43:00] love little anecdotes like that, where you're just like, that's fantastic. That's beautiful.



[00:43:08] Ashley: I was like, I love that for Susan. So. The other thing Susan had a really hard time with when she was at school is she was super homesick and she was super lonely because her one, like the love of her life wasn't there, Thomas, who she didn't even talk to anyway.



[00:43:21] And she was just homesick. She wanted to go home. There's not a lot of people, when you're outside your home or outside your even your own culture and there's not people who like know what you know, and like are from your community. It's hard, it is. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's difficult, but she promised like she knew the assignment She's like I have to finish school number one and she also promised all the people who gave her money that she was not just gonna like go to school and then like Leave and get married and like never do this again.



[00:43:50] She was like, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna like become a doctor So



[00:43:55] Tabitha: I love it



[00:43:55] Ashley: couple Isn't that great? So a couple weeks before her final [00:44:00] semester, a couple weeks, sorry, into her final semester, Susan's dad died. I know. And she was super close to her dad. This was a big deal. Again, he was the chief of the whole Omaha, like, Susan loved her dad.



[00:44:14] Her dad was so supportive of her doing this. And, but she was really sad that she couldn't go to the funeral and she didn't go. Instead, what she did, she's like, you know what, I'm not able to go to my dad's funeral and this stinks, but you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to graduate because that's what my dad would have wanted me to do.



[00:44:31] He would have wanted me to stay and study and be the best I could be. So Susan graduated valedictorian. Oh my gosh, I love it. Isn't that great? I love it so much. I was like, yes, Susan! She was officially the first Western trained Indigenous American doctor ever, male, female, or otherwise. She was the first.



[00:44:55] So she was like, yes. She did a bunch of fist pumps. She high fived all her [00:45:00] classmates. Another thing that was interesting too, they talked about her classes and her classmates, other women. Because they were like such a small group of women, they all banded together and helped each other study. Like, they were like woman warriors at this college.



[00:45:12] They're like, bitch, we gotta change the world. So we all need to study. They're like, girl, give me your notes. Yes! They were like, girl, share your notes with me! And they were like, yes, girl! It was great. I'm so happy for them. Oh, I literally am obsessed with this woman. Like, as soon as I started reading about her, I was like, Gosh, this woman is awesome.



[00:45:36] And her story's not done. So she was like, okay, awesome. I fist bumped. I celebrated. I probably ate some cake now I got to go home. So she went back to the Omaha people where she's from in Eastern Nebraska area. She was like time to be a bad ass doctor. So that's exactly what she did. So every day from [00:46:00] 7 AM to 10 PM, Susan got on her horse, everybody.



[00:46:05] That's hard. She got on her horse. Isn't that crazy? Every day for hours, she got on that horse and she's, she treated patients that spanned, now listen to this. It's a big area, 1350 square miles. Okay, this is a huge area. I'm sorry. I don't have anything to compare it with off the top of my head. Just know that it's a lot of land.



[00:46:32] Okay. The whole Omaha territory basically is was her where her patients were. There was one white doctor in town or like who would service the reservation. He literally got run out because they were like, no, we just want Susan now. And he was like, Oh,



[00:46:54] Tabitha: it's not like that asshole showed up anyway.



[00:46:57] Ashley: Like, remember that time you didn't [00:47:00] come? We got Susan. We're good. Thank you.



[00:47:06] We have our own doctor. We're fine. And. Think about it. This is a doctor who speaks Omaha, who is from Omaha, who knows the community. And we talk about this which is, I'm happy that it's happening way more in like the medical field, especially in the mental health field. People talk about that importance of culture in medical treatment.



[00:47:29] Sometimes people, yeah, sometimes people have problems that they can't describe. But if they meet somebody from their same culture, their same ethnic group, their same tribe, and you describe that they'll be like, Oh, yeah, I know what that is. And I know why you're having this affliction or whatever the problem is.



[00:47:45] So they must have been like, this is nice. Yeah, not so yeah, not someone just being like, Oh, I think you're crazy. She's like, No, I know what that is, girl. Yeah. I love that. So, all right. So Susan was working sunup to [00:48:00] sundown. She would never turn anybody away because they were too far. They couldn't pay.



[00:48:04] She, Susan wasn't always there when you called, but she was always on time. Okay. That's all you need to know. Just like the job rule song. Susan came, she was coming anytime she didn't care. She used to wake up in the middle of the night. If she got a letter or a message or someone came to her door and said, we need help, she's coming.



[00:48:22] She'll be there. She was amazing. Eventually she had to get. More horses because she just had one horse at first and she had some medical equipment, but she couldn't use just the one horse So she had to get a couple horses and a buggy because she didn't want stuff to break Like just riding the horse all day.



[00:48:39] Yeah, so I'm like good for you another way to carry it. So I love this. So Susan was the doctor for the, but then everyone's like, you know what? In addition to being the doctor, she's mad smart. Like we should ask her about all these other issues we're having. So then I love this. Susan became like a financial consultant to people.



[00:48:58] Like, I [00:49:00] love it. That is fantastic.



[00:49:02] Tabitha: I know, she's



[00:49:03] Ashley: just like, She was helping people with their legal problems, with marital problems. She became the psychiatrist. Damn. She



[00:49:13] Tabitha: became like a jack of all trades. That's fantastic.



[00:49:19] Ashley: Yes, and everybody's like, oh, do you have a problem? Is your husband making you angry and not washing the dishes?



[00:49:25] Call Susan. She'll talk to him. Is your neighbor trying to steal all your corn? Call Susan. She's like that. Religious issues.



[00:49:40] Tabitha: Everything.



[00:49:40] Ashley: That's



[00:49:43] Tabitha: phenomenal.



[00:49:47] Ashley: So in addition to being the doctor for this huge area of land and helping everybody with their wife getting mad at them in the middle of the night. So in addition to that, she [00:50:00] started a small library. She ran a community events for the local church and she started a health campaign. Showing the Omaha people, the dangers of alcohol.



[00:50:11] So Susan was doing all this stuff and don't get me wrong. She was being a bad ass the whole time, but she was like, I am tired. She's like, I'm really the goat. And I have this all on my back and this is exhausting. And plus. out in eastern Nebraska area. It's cold in the winter. It's cold. And Susan still got on her horse and buddy, even when it was cold to go help people.



[00:50:39] And she's like, Ooh, and then she had customers. Her customers were usually poor customers, they didn't have a lot of money sometimes she didn't have a lot of money either. So sometimes she would just have to resort to having using herbal medicines instead of like medication. She knew that she that could help even because she didn't have access to them, but she still did [00:51:00] it.



[00:51:00] And she was really good about helping people. She would educate. Oh, this is the other thing talking about the campaign that she started. To show the Omaha people, the dangers of alcohol. So she would do these campaigns. She would walk around to local churches and local, like meeting areas and tell people like, Hey, alcohol is bad for you guys.



[00:51:18] Like you drinking access is bad, but then these whiskey paddlers would come around and tell people like, Oh, she's just a liar. She's just trying to make you not have fun. Or they would have like, Votes on like, maybe we should stop bringing whiskey in here and the whiskey peddlers will come around be like, they're trying to take away your freedom, like COVID vaccine mandates.



[00:51:36] Think that. Like that's what they were doing. They're being dicks. Like when Susan was just trying to say, Oh, alcohol is bad for your liver. And like, it might make you act a different way and you might hurt people, whatever. So this was hard. So now after years of this, she started to slow down. Now, okay.



[00:51:52] When she started to slow down, she was like 29. She



[00:51:55] Tabitha: was still a very young person. Oh my goodness. I know [00:52:00]



[00:52:00] Ashley: she did this for like, I don't, they didn't tell me exactly when she, I think when she graduated, she was maybe in her very early twenties. But. She was now she's 29 and she's like damn years of riding that horse and buggy in the middle of the winter was wearing her down she also had a couple of things happen to her that were really hard So her after her father had passed away.



[00:52:21] Her mom was really sick. Like she just Wasn't doing well and her, the love of her life, TI, he died. She was really sad. I know they never got back together, but they were still in communication. Like they would write to each other. And her sister's husband, who. It seems like she was close with too died of tuberculosis.



[00:52:44] So she was sad and then on top of all this she had these really terrible pains and she never knew what these pains were from Sometimes she would just be in terrible bouts of pain and she didn't know why she tried to diagnose herself She couldn't figure out what it was and even when she was in [00:53:00] pain, she would still go out to help people so at the age of 29, she was like I think I gotta hang up my hat.



[00:53:09] So she literally was like, I'm gonna not do doctoring anymore. And she was like, I'm gonna stay home, I'm gonna take care of my mom. So that's what she did. And she stayed home and took care of her mom. She got married. She got married, interestingly enough, to this guy named Henry Peacock, who was a suit man who was like a circus showman.



[00:53:30] Which was really weird. And people were like, they were a really odd couple because she was like this super accomplished educated doctor woman. And he was an ex circus guy who was like, racist against indigenous people. Cause like at the time the circus was like, Let's make fun of other races.



[00:53:50] Like, that was the circus. Yeah, so nobody had any, yeah, nobody had any respect for him. And actually they said, like, nobody actually liked him. They all thought he was an asshole. [00:54:00] So, it's fine. So Susan got married. So weird. I know everyone's like, Susan, are you sure? And she's like, girl, just let me do it.



[00:54:13] So within a year and a half of them getting married, she had a baby and she had a baby named Carl. Then after she had her baby and had this marriage and taking care of her mom, she's like, you know what? I think I want to be a doctor again. So, okay. Everyone's like, great. I



[00:54:31] Tabitha: know. Everyone's like, awesome.



[00:54:33] I love that she's like, you know what? I did try domestic life and it didn't go fuck itself. Like, I think that's fantastic. That's literally what she said. She's like,



[00:54:49] Ashley: She's like, I actually hate this. So, it's no problem. She was like, [00:55:00] oh, I got a baby. I'll just take it with me. So she would get up at daybreak. Work until suppertime come home eat dinner with the family and then go back out until late at night This was how she worked for years she used to bring carl along with her But then one time there was like a trip that they had and I guess it was a rough trip So she's like actually I should probably not bring carl anymore because I don't want to make it hurt yeah, so she started to leave him at home with the husband and at this time Then she ended up having like another son soon after named pierre So she left carl and pierre at home with the husband didn't have a job You He was just stay at home dad.



[00:55:34] That's fine. And she worked and it was great. So at this time, so you thought she was awesome before she started doing more stuff. So she kept being an advocate for the Omaha, even in government, like she was advocating for land rights for Omaha people finding out who did unfair land treatings and lobbying against them.



[00:55:52] She was serious. She was spreading hygiene awareness. She would go herself and talk to these whiskey traders. And be [00:56:00] like, can you stop being such dicks? Like, you just stop selling whiskey to these people. She was really in, she really, which made sense for the time. She really was in favor of prohibition.



[00:56:11] Because it was such a problem. Like, prohibition wasn't really the answer. But I understand why she wanted that. It made perfect sense. It was such a problem in her community that she's like, If we just didn't have alcohol, this wouldn't be a problem. And she's, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, so she did all this kind of stuff. So then, oh, and the hygiene awareness, she set up water fountains, because what would happen is there these communal like water cups, like, or just places people would go to get sitting water, and they would use the same cup, and like, Oh, okay. Yeah, so the problem obviously was tuberculosis and influenza was so big in the community and this is what's how it was spreading.



[00:56:51] So she was like, hold on, let's make water fountains so everyone can get their own water and we don't have to have people sharing. So that helped a lot slow the, slow the [00:57:00] spread. So she would do all these things and she still had this terrible pain. And sometimes she would go into these really deep depressions.



[00:57:07] And part of her depression she would say is like, she would do all this stuff. She would go talk to these whiskey traders. She would go start water fountains and things would still happen. And she'd be like, am I even making a difference in my community? Like, what am I? Doing so she would just get really depressed and sometimes she just like stay home Like she's just like I can't do this anymore But the one beautiful thing was every time people found out like susan's sad She would get this outpouring of messages and letters to her house with people thanking her with people telling her what a difference She was making in the community And it would bring her like that was her version almost of like of journaling Like it would like bring her out of her You Aw, that's so fantastic.



[00:57:50] Isn't that's how much like her community was like, Susan, girl, you are star. We love you. You, we know that it's rough out here, but like we, it would [00:58:00] be rougher if you weren't around. And she's like, Oh, thank you guys. Great. So now it's like 1905 and her husband died from TB aggravated by aggressive alcohol abuse.



[00:58:18] So. Even though, like, she was this big person who was like, no alcohol, but her husband was an alcoholic, and they said, like, at the time, she was working, he wasn't working, he was a stay at home dad, and at the time, that was rough for him because he couldn't find a job, so, the whole, like, I'm a man, I can't find a job, my wife is working, ugh, I'm so sad he became an alcoholic, so, or he had alcoholism, so he died and now she was 40.



[00:58:47] She was deaf in one ear and she also was single with two kids, seven, age seven and nine. Carl was nine, Pierre was seven. So you would think now it's getting rough. Actually, this is when her life started to get a lot [00:59:00] better. So the alcohol prohibited the government prohibited alcohol and encouraged the Omaha to set up Different growing different crops.



[00:59:08] So this helped the community financially people weren't drinking as much. So Susan's like, bang. This is amazing now. The other thing that started to happen was she was helping the Omaha people get full land ownership from the government who had these unfair treaties, and now the government was actually giving them some of this land back.



[00:59:30] So they were like, she's like, bang, this is awesome. Then, her biggest to her, oh, the other thing, sorry, Susan built her dream house across the road from her sister. So her sister was able to help her take care of her kids and she helped take care of her sister's kids. How sweet. Everyone's taking care of each other's kids.



[00:59:49] Adorable.



[00:59:50] Tabitha: I love it. I was



[00:59:52] Ashley: like, Oh, you guys are so adorable. So that helped a lot. So then the biggest accomplishment for her is this was her biggest dream. [01:00:00] Susan always dreamed to have a hospital for the Omaha people and especially for orphans who she treated a lot. On January 8th, 1913, she was able to Open her first hospital.



[01:00:15] She had done. Isn't that awesome? She had done this and for years, people didn't realize, but for years and years and years and years, she had been writing to well connected people and like saving up this money. Cause she's like, I'm going to open this hospital. I'm going to do it. Like I gotta do it.



[01:00:32] So she opened a hospital. It had 39 beds, two wards, and a little surgery room that was named after her Papa, which is so sweet. At this point, her life's work had basically been accomplished. She was like, Oh, my God, this is amazing. Meanwhile, Susan was amazing, but and I'm please look at her Wikipedia page.



[01:00:51] Her family was out here doing so many awesome things to for the community. It was really cool. But also her son. So Pierre. [01:01:00] The younger son, he graduated salutatorian of his class at school. Good job, Pierre. And Carl began medical school himself. Oh, good job, Carl. We're so proud of you. You're doing great.



[01:01:11] But then her health really started to decline even more so then she found out that pain She'd always been having was actually bone cancer. Oh my god. Yes. I was like what? Yeah, it's bone cancer So like I said, she would come back Marie Curie herself Sent Susan a radium pellet to help see if she could help her cancer, but some dumb ass doctor lost it in Susan's ear.



[01:01:46] Yes, they like, I don't know how they were gonna enter it into her body, but he somehow lost it in her ear. I don't know what happened. And it was hours of a painful surgery to try to get this thing out of her [01:02:00] ear. And then it just wouldn't work, I don't know. It was just bad. I felt bad for her.



[01:02:04] So she went through two surgeries, but they both didn't really help that much, but she spent the rest of her time just like being with her kids and like celebrating them and, enjoying her children. So she died September 18th, 1915. The newspaper that day, that week had so many condolences in it.



[01:02:27] They had to add extra pages.



[01:02:29] Tabitha: Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. Aww. That was sweet. That's like heartwarming and like, so sad at the same time. I know! Oh,



[01:02:41] Ashley: like Susan. And then so, the last quote from Susan, she said was, I cannot see how any credit is due to me. I am only thankful that I have been called and permitted to serve.



[01:02:52] I feel blessed for that and privileged beyond measure. Susan![01:03:00]



[01:03:00] Tabitha: Yes! What a fantastic quote. My goodness. I know!



[01:03:04] Ashley: I'm like, She went, she did everything. She was the first, she was the first, she was the first. But she's like, oh don't say anything to me. It's my privilege to ride horses for hours and hours to take care of my people. I'm like, wow, Susan. Yeah, oh my goodness.



[01:03:19] She was a goat, everybody. So absolutely. Yes. I love her. So yeah, that's our person, the first ever Western educated indigenous doctor. Good for you, Susan. That's our story time for you folks. I hope everybody enjoyed it. Like I said, check out the Wikipedia page. I'm like going to link it obviously because her family.



[01:03:44] She had like a half brother who did some awesome stuff. Like I said her sister Suzette was out here advocating for indigenous rights for ever, like her whole family is , cool. Like they, they're really awesome. [01:04:00] So that brings us to the end of the show Tabitha. Thank you so so much for being here and hanging out Yeah, so much for having me Yay, of course So, can you tell the people where they can find you if people want to check you out on the internet?



[01:04:19] No, all your awesome projects that you do.



[01:04:22] Tabitha: Yeah, so I am on world her story and At on Instagram and Facebook and I have a Patreon that's launching soon. So that's patreon. com slash world hair story. And that's where you can find all the links to the good stuff. Show notes, websites, newsletter, all that jazz.



[01:04:43] Like, so just find me on social media and. You'll find all the other stuff that you want to be connected to.



[01:04:51] Ashley: Yay. Thank you so much, Tabitha. This has been awesome. I really appreciate you coming and hanging out. This has been a good time.



[01:04:58] Tabitha: Yeah. Thank you. And I, [01:05:00] it's it's really cool to learn about more women in history.



[01:05:03] So this has been a fun episode for me to sit here and learn about Susan.



[01:05:07] Ashley: Good. I know. I was like, Oh, I hope Tabitha doesn't know this one so we can both like, Yeah, this



[01:05:12] Tabitha: is fantastic.



[01:05:16] Ashley: I know I was I literally was like reading her story and like just like I had I don't know I had like chills I was like the courage that it must have took this woman to do all this, it's hard to be the first to do anything, and yeah, she obviously was really smart, but obviously she's probably like, I cannot let down everybody.



[01:05:35] Tabitha: Like, I have so much pressure. And I can't imagine doing that with a pain that is bone cancer. for so many years. Yes. Like, I can't imagine, bearing the weight of all of that amazing stuff for your community, and then also having bone cancer on top of it. Like, that's



[01:05:54] Ashley: just phenomenal. I know.



[01:05:56] They said even when she was in pain, she didn't turn anybody down. She didn't care if [01:06:00] you couldn't pay. She didn't care if you were literally at the 1300 mile away from her. She's coming. She'll be there as soon as possible. I was like, wow, Susan. I Woo. A queen. Okay everybody, thank you so much for hanging out with us.



[01:06:14] This is Diamond with the Divine, and we are at Diamond with Divine. I always say we, it's just me, we're dying with the Divine on Instagram and Facebook and Thread and TikTok and YouTube. If you really enjoy the show, I'd really appreciate if you give me a rating or a review wherever you listen to the show.



[01:06:32] And if you have any EPIs, if you have any questions. Suggestions, comments, anything like that, you can feel free to email me@diamondthedivine.com. And if you wanna follow me, Ashley, I'm at Sankofa hs. That's S-A-N-K-O-F-A-H-S and Sankofa Healing Sanctuary on Facebook. Thank you so much. Thank you, Tabitha.



[01:06:52] Thank you audience. Thank you. I will see you next week. Bye-Bye. [01:07:00]